A series of adaptive models inspired by abstractions of the acquired immune system provided the basis for the proposal of a series of acquired-immune inspired algorithms. This work attempts to unite the adaptive models with the proposed series of algorithms in the context of a hierarchal framework of the immune system. This work reviews the adaptive models and algorithms, and explicitly highlights the relationships between these two, until now, implicitly related areas of work. The seminal information processing property of each algorithm is reiterated, outlining a series of studies verifying the capabilities of the algorithms.